Going Independent: Several Choices, Several Solutions

The strong trend to independence, especially a migration to the RIA model, will continue to pick up steam, according to research studies and advisor polls. Indeed, the independent share is pegged to surpass "the size of captive advisor channels," according to a forecast by Tiburon Strategic Advisors, financial institutions' consultants, released in August.

Specifically, the independent channel will overtake that of the wirehouses by 2018, reports research firm Cerulli Associates.

Right now, among wirehouse FAs, an increasing number of large teams are opting for independence. This is likely just the tip of the indie iceberg: Nearly one-quarter of wirehouse advisors who change firms in 2015 will move to an independent channel, Cerulli projects in its "Intermediary Distribution 2015" five-year outlook report, released at the end of August.

However, once determining to go independent, the sheer number of choices in the space can be bewildering, if not confusing. What's the ideal business model for your practice? Do you become an RIA, or not? If so, how about being a hybrid advisor? Will you join an IBD, a boutique firm or a partnership? Or will you sell your prized practice to an aggregator?

The good news is that platform providers and IBDs are at the ready to help you sort through and whittle down that lengthy list.

"It's important to take time to make a prudent, thoughtful decision. The advisor needs to make sure the business model and firm [they affiliate with] will be beneficial to clients and that they have the right platform to help their business grow," says Mark Elzweig, whose eponymous financial advisor recruiting firm is in New York City.

Degrees of Freedom

Broadly, you must decide whether to hang out your own shingle, join an existing practice or sell your business to another firm. And you must weigh these options against your business today, tomorrow and beyond. Above all, a wirehouse advisor needs to be realistic: Just how much autonomy do you truly want?

A few basics to consider:

• For a personal RIA to work, at least 75% of your business needs to be fee-based, according to Elzweig.

• Hybrid advisors can either have their own RIAs or work under another firm's corporate RIA; they can also perform commission business through an IBD.

• A dually registered advisor can conduct both fee-based and commission business, and there is no requirement to be an RIA.

While there's plenty of potential for an independent to boost the bottom line, payouts among firms are similar; and compensation — that is, economics — should be only one of myriad concerns.

"Someone who is going independent just for the money tends not to be a good prospective client for the independent channel. It's a big red flag when the first thing the advisor says to us is: 'We're looking to make it an economic decision'," says Tim Oden, senior managing director-business development with Schwab Advisor Services, the nation's leading RIA custodian.

Still, FAs with ambitions to expand significantly by adding advisors, or by buying other advisors' practices, should choose a business model that will best fulfill these plans.

For example, Steven Dudash, 38, and his team of six left Merrill Lynch in June 2014 with the intention of recruiting advisors nearing retirement age and acquiring their books. Dudash, president of IHT Wealth Management, in Chicago, aims to eventually have under his RIA a few thousand reps coast to coast.

Gearing up to go indie, he spoke with multiple firms to understand the differences among business models. Once deciding to go hybrid, he affiliated with LPL Financial.

"It ended up that the firm was the right fit for what we were trying to do. LPL let us get to that conclusion ourselves," Dudash says.

Taking a consultative approach with prospective clients, LPL's "responsibility is to provide the advisor with a comprehensive picture of what it means to move their practice and how they can match up the business model they have today with what they want to build over time," says Rob Sandrew, senior vice president-business development at LPL, who is based in San Diego.

Some independent FAs are motivated to build large practices locally via "tuck-ins"; that is, advisors who join their established RIAs.

For instance, consider Scott Highmark, 42, and Larry Shikles, 52, who teamed up originally at Morgan Stanley, and have been partners in Mosaic Family Wealth since February. With a deep commitment to the St. Louis market, the two might tuck in advisors who they determine are the right cultural fit, says Shirl Penney, CEO-founder of Dynasty Financial Partners, Mosaic's platform provider.

After deciding to create a hybrid RIA, Highmark and Shikles, whose group totals seven, interviewed a number of firms across the independent spectrum. They picked Dynasty mainly for its fee-for-service model, in which Mosaic pays the company a percentage of its revenue.

"Some firms want to own a piece of you or make you a W-2 employee. We wanted to have our own identity," Highmark says.

Navigating the array of providers and choices demands patience and perseverance.

"It takes time to dig in and know how to go independent," says Penney. "We spend a lot of time upfront acting as a consultant and to some extent, a translator. We help advisors understand what a day-in-the-life will be when they're running their own business."

Another possibility is working under a corporate RIA instead of personal registration. As a fee-only independent business owner, Jason Ezzell, 43, founder of Ezzell-Conklin Group, in Folsom, California, is supported by HighTower's platform and accesses RIA operations through that firm's national RIA.